Death Is The Only Certainty

It was a somber day for Ciel Phantomhive, not that he wasn't used to somber days in his relatively young life, but this was the most significant one in over seventy years. The funeral of Lady Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia Ferrias nee Midford. The young girl who would have been his wife, in another life. It was a horrid day for him.

There were perhaps hundreds of people at the funeral. She had been a very popular woman. She had eventually married and had two children, both of whom Ciel could see as they exited the grand church as he hid in the shadows with Sebastian at his side.

"We should leave now," the freed demon stated but Ceil shook his head.

"Just a bit longer...please," he muttered and the older demon sighed.

Ciel stared out with melancholy, mismatching eyes at the people in black as they spoke quietly, offering sympathy to Lord Ferrias, Lizzy's aged husband and to her children. One of them, her son, suddenly fell to his knees, weeping inconsolably and Ciel had to look away.

"Ciel," his sister said, getting her brother up of the ground as she ignored her own tears.

"Ciel..." the young demon repeated, "She named her son...after me."

"...So it would seem," Sebastian said.

"I...I want to leave now," Ciel said to him, "Get us out of here."

The older demon, not bound to acquiesce to any of the boy's orders, not for some twenty odd years now, suddenly felt a sickening moment of sympathy. He placed a hand on Ciel's shoulder and using the shadows of the oak tree under which they stood, made them vanish, like a magic trick.

They reappeared some miles away, in a deserted alley which was dark and gloomy. There was a quiet dripping sound and faint voices but Ciel didn't care. He didn't care that the ground at his feet was dirty or wet as he threw himself against a crumbling wall and sat down.

"She was the last person," the boy muttered, sadly, "They're all gone now," he said and indeed, he was right. He had seen all of his employees pass on; Tanaka, Bard, Finny and May Linn. His manor lay empty now and he had made sure that no one would be able to buy it, dismantle it or even live in it. He'd let it stand there and rot for all eternity.

"I have told you before," Sebastian remarked, "This is why demons do not become attached, ever. Humans live such short lives."

"Hmmm," the boy hummed, resting his elbows on his knees and then resting his head on them.

"I advised you not to return because of them. It would have been wise for you to have severed all ties, completely."

"Hmmm," Ciel reiterated.

Sebastian let out an exasperated sigh. What more could he possibly say? He had more than once told Ciel not to become emotionally involved with humans, at all, ever. But of course, that was slightly hypocritical. Here he was, a freed demon, not bound by any contract, acting as a gloried babysitter to this boy before him. He, the great Mepistopheles, who had even devoured Faust in the end, of whom he had also been quite fond, was at a loss to comfort a small, grieving demon. The disturbing throught was that he wanted to comfort the small, grieving demon. Demons did not comfort. It simply wasn't done. They didn't understand it. They had no use for it, they didn't even have a word for it in their own language.

"Ciel?" he questioned.

"Hmmm..." the boy simply repeated.

"Are you even listening to a word I'm saying?"

"Hmm..."

"I'll take that as a no...well, in that case, I'll just leave you here since you've no objection?" he waited for a moment for a response, but got none, so he continued. "Also, I've decided that I'm going to dress up as Santa Claus for the next depressed soul I find and offer them presents rather than a contract."

"Hmmm...wait, what?!"

"Ridiculous. That's the one that gets your attention?" Sebastian shook his head, dramatically. He leaned back against the wall next to where Ciel was sitting, now looking up at him, his eyes glistening with un-shed tears.

"Demons don't cry," he said to the boy after a moment.

"I'm not crying!"

Sebastian rolled his eyes and slid down the wall so that he was crouching on his haunches next to the boy. He refused to sit and get his clothes dirty. "She...lived a long life...for a human," he remarked slowly.

"Guess so," Ciel muttered with a sniffle, "But it's not like you care."

"I know better than to care," the older demon declared, glancing at the boy. He knew he was lying of course. He'd long since admitted of himself that there was one being he cared for but he still couldn't explain why. "But...I did know a demon once, a very long time ago," he began, "Who did care."

"...What happened?"

"She died," Sebastian shrugged.

"How? What did she care about?"

"A city," the older demon answered, "The humans in it. The city was destroyed, she tried to save it, but she couldn't. So they all died."

"But not you?"

"Not me. No."

"What...what city was it?" Ciel asked, wiping his eyes.

"A Roman one. Nothing of consequence, really. I had a contract with a woman there at the time. A volcano erupted. It seemed too much work to save both her and the people she wanted revenge against and then to orchestrate that revenge so I simply killed her and ate her soul and I was preparing to leave when I saw her. The other demon. I'd known for some time that she was in the city but she wasn't particularly strong, she didn't pose any threat so I hadn't made a move against her."

"What did she do?"

"She tried to stop the volcano from erupting and she failed. She was obliterated," he replied, emotionlessly.

"...What was her name?"

"I never knew," Sebastian said.

"She...cared about people?"

"She even asked me to help save them," he scoffed. "Humans are more than us, she told me. She was a fool," he added, darkly.

"Could you...stop a volcano, I mean, if you wanted to?" Ciel asked.

"I've never tried," Sebastian shrugged.

"But could you?"

"I don't know. And after seeing what happened to her, I'm not really all that keen to attempt it," he answered, dryly. "I think she was young, by demons standards. Perhaps she'd only begun to form her own personality and she was too caught up in the play acting of living with humans. We learn the stupidity of doing that very early on. She obviously hadn't had that chance."

"I never knew there were demons like that."

"She would have changed, given time," Sebastian assured him.

"But still...I thought demons were always...detached."

"It's in our own interest to be so," the older demon said. "And besides, human emotions...their way of thinking...they're not things we can ever fully understand. I never understood why she gave her own life in an attempt to save theirs."

"And...you don't understand why I'm sad now...do you?" Ciel inferred.

"Not completely. You knew Lady Elizabeth was going to die eventually. Why come back every time someone you used to know dies?"

"Well, I won't need to come back again...there's no one else," the boy replied. "And you were right...I shouldn't have come. I know that but...they were all I had left of when I was still human. I don't expect you to understand, just..." he sighed and leaned his weight against the older demon. "Stay here for a bit," he muttered.

Sebastian, rather than laughing, furrowed his brow in confusion. It was moments like this that he really didn't understand. Why was Ciel so trusting of him? As the older, unchained demon he could choose to kill Ciel at any time, he should be constantly on guard, a real demon would. Ciel had surprised him yet again. Over time, Sebastian thought that Ciel would begin to show more demonic traits and then in turn, his own life would become easier, but it didn't. Ciel was as human as ever and Sebastian was just as confused and occasionally, amused. He wasn't amused now though.

Ciel had moved closer to him, he was practically sitting on him, as he cuddled up into Sebastian's black overcoat. His left arm was rendered useless because the child was snuggled up to his left side and all he could do was hold his hand awkwardly in the air out of the way.

Sebastian pursed his lip, still unsure of what to do when he saw a tear fall from Ciel's eye and onto his own shirt. "Oh, it's raining," the older demon remarked and Ciel nodded. The boy didn't want to admit that he was crying so he was at least grateful that Sebastian wasn't teasing him or lecturing him about the hindrances of emotion.

"Mmm-hmmm," he mumbled.